Facebook is currently under pressure to halt all posts made by anti-vaccination groups as they are spreading false information about the dangers of vaccinations and recommending alternative treatments that are unfounded, such as high doses of vitamin C.
These large and sophisticated groups called the "anti-vaxxers" have thousands of followers and they do not give access to other users immediately thus making it easy for them to spread false information about vaccinations throughout the social media site. One of the closed groups on Facebook named Vitamin C Against Vaccine Damage believes that high doses of Vitamin C can heal anyone from the damage caused by vaccines, even though there are no studies that can prove their claim.
Last month, Washington state declared a state of emergency after 48 people were diagnosed with measles and most of them were unvaccinated and under 10 years old. This got the attention of numerous health experts who advertise the importance and the benefits of vaccinations, especially on children.
Fiona O'Leary, a campaigner against pseudo-science and an autism activist called on Facebook to block or remove groups that promote anti-vaccinations. "If they won't shut down closed groups, I'd like to see a Facebook watchdog that will remove misinformation causing harm to children," she said.
David Robert Grimes, a physicist who advocates in countering fake science, said that Vitamin C does absolutely nothing for immunization and it does not prevent the contraction of measles.
Anti-vaccination groups spreading false information can put children's lives at risk. Back in 2000, measles was declared eliminated across the United States of America thanks to MMR or the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. However, the fraudulent exploits of Andrew Wakefield, a discredited British doctor who linked autism to childhood vaccines, caused mass hysteria and planted fear on every parent. This started the still on-going debate on whether vaccines are safe or not.
To lessen the spread of false information about vaccines on their platform, Facebook is partnering with global health organizations, including the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization, to create contents based on facts. Facebook will reject and remove ads that contain false facts about vaccinations and those that promote unfounded alternatives to vaccinations. The same rules will now apply on Instagram, a social media platform that Facebook owns.
Other social media platforms such as Pinterest and YouTube, are said to do the same to stop the spread of anti-vaccine information.
